Good luck boring subways, tunnels, and right-of-ways through mountains, sand dunes, and silt! Buses are the only reasonable answer and much more modular to adjust to changing demands as years go by.
A traffic system that programmatically prioritizes for public transportation, along with traffic citations issued by camera and automation (sorry) is what we need.
BART is already built through the very same ground. MUNI already has multiple tunnels through the "mountains" in the middle of SF. BART even runs directly through artificial landfill without issue.
The seismic activity of California certainly exposes more challenges, but there's no good reason why underground transport is impossible in SF.
Bus Rapid Transit is a cheap way to look like you're doing something about transit in a growing city when in reality you're just kicking the problem down the line.
> Buses are the only reasonable answer and much more modular to adjust to changing demands as years go by
The problem with buses is bus routes are too easy to change or eliminate.
To get me to give up my car, a public transportation system needs to have good coverage of where I need to go, when I need to go, and there has to be good reason for me to believe that it will stay this way.
Buses can provide the good coverage, but it is almost impossible to provide the assurance that this will continue. If some route I depended on when I picked where to live has a ridership decline, some bean counter can cut that route, or move it a few blocks over to try to get more riders. I can't easily move my house a few blocks over to match the new route.
For buses to really work, there has to a strong commitment to stability of routes and schedules, so that people can base long term plans on them. I don't think most US cities have the political and financial stability to make that commitment.
hack_edu|11 years ago
A traffic system that programmatically prioritizes for public transportation, along with traffic citations issued by camera and automation (sorry) is what we need.
potatolicious|11 years ago
The seismic activity of California certainly exposes more challenges, but there's no good reason why underground transport is impossible in SF.
Bus Rapid Transit is a cheap way to look like you're doing something about transit in a growing city when in reality you're just kicking the problem down the line.
tzs|11 years ago
The problem with buses is bus routes are too easy to change or eliminate.
To get me to give up my car, a public transportation system needs to have good coverage of where I need to go, when I need to go, and there has to be good reason for me to believe that it will stay this way.
Buses can provide the good coverage, but it is almost impossible to provide the assurance that this will continue. If some route I depended on when I picked where to live has a ridership decline, some bean counter can cut that route, or move it a few blocks over to try to get more riders. I can't easily move my house a few blocks over to match the new route.
For buses to really work, there has to a strong commitment to stability of routes and schedules, so that people can base long term plans on them. I don't think most US cities have the political and financial stability to make that commitment.